Gemini, LLC
Auction X 13 January 2013
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Cilicia. Nagidus. c. 400-380 BC. Stater, 10.76g. (5h). Obv: Head of Dionysus right, wearing ivy-leaf wreath. Dotted border. Rx: ΝΑΓΙΔΕΩΝ Head of Aphrodite right, hair covered in sphendone. Lederer 14. Traite II 2, p. 914, 1500, pl. 141, 1. SNG Levante 2. McClean 9070, pl. 326, 19. Test cut behind head of Aphrodite, otherwise toned EF.
Ex Jonathan Rosen Collection.
The rare coins of Nagidos are known for their charming images of the goddess of love, Aphrodite. On this early issue, another deity claims superiority: Dionysus, who was identified with the indigenous god of vegetation, Tarhu. Tarhu was also the god of the old Hittite city Tarhuntassa, whose ruins can still to be found in the province of Konya. Many of the old Hittite traditions had survived in Cilicia (Aphrodite may well have been identified with her Hittite counterpart, Hepat), although the Greeks had no iknowledge of the Hittites. The historian Herodotus even thought the Hittite rock reliefs in western Asia Minor were made by Egyptians. Sic transit gloria mundi.
Ex Jonathan Rosen Collection.
The rare coins of Nagidos are known for their charming images of the goddess of love, Aphrodite. On this early issue, another deity claims superiority: Dionysus, who was identified with the indigenous god of vegetation, Tarhu. Tarhu was also the god of the old Hittite city Tarhuntassa, whose ruins can still to be found in the province of Konya. Many of the old Hittite traditions had survived in Cilicia (Aphrodite may well have been identified with her Hittite counterpart, Hepat), although the Greeks had no iknowledge of the Hittites. The historian Herodotus even thought the Hittite rock reliefs in western Asia Minor were made by Egyptians. Sic transit gloria mundi.